Gone Too Far (55 page)

“That is
such
good news.” She was looking terrific this morning. She actually had a little color in her cheeks. But she had total bed-head.

He got her brush from her drawer.

“You’re not wearing your uniform,” she also noted.

“Yeah,” he said, looking down at his jeans and sneakers. He forced a smile. “Weird, huh?”

“Did you . . . ?”

“Yeah,” he said as he started brushing her hair. “I’m out. I’m done. As of this morning, it’s official. They offered a desk job, but—”

“You don’t need to explain.”

But there
was
something he needed to talk about. Tom cleared his throat. “I, uh, got a call about thirty minutes ago from the CIA.”

Her eyes widened as she looked up at him. “They want you to work for them? I’m not sure I want you to—”

“Not exactly. They want to, um,
hire
my
team
.”

Kelly didn’t get it. He just braided her hair, waiting for her to understand.

She laughed when the light went on. “Really?”

“Those rumors you started have turned into something a little more solid than I’d anticipated. Apparently, Alyssa Locke is going to be my executive officer.”

And Kelly wasn’t too happy about that. “I’m not sure she’s such a good choice—”

He leaned over and kissed her. “Yeah, you’re just jealous. I love it.”

“Well, yeah, because she’s gorgeous and she adores you and—”

Tom fished in the drawer for a ponytail holder. “And she’s marrying Sam Starrett—who’s also apparently part of my team.”

“Wait a minute,” Kelly said. “Is that the rumor or . . .?”

“No, she’s really marrying Starrett.”

“I thought he just got a divorce.”

Tom poked her. “Some people don’t need to take years and years before they remarry.”

“Hey, be nice to me, I’m in the hospital.”

“I noticed. You want some lotion?”

“No, thanks, I’m okay,” she said. “Thanks for the braid.”

“Anytime. I’m good with hair. Mine used to be about that long in high school, remember?”

“Oh, yeah.” Kelly smiled at him.

She swore she’d always had a thing for Jean-Luc Picard. Good thing, because she was now married to a man who was on the verge of being very bald.

“So what did you tell the CIA?” she asked.

He laughed. “What do you think? I told them I don’t really have a team together.”

“Yet,” Kelly added.

“Yet,” Tom agreed.

His cell phone rang, and he glanced at the screen and laughed.

“Who is it?” Kelly asked.

“Sam Starrett,” he told her. “Probably wondering where he can put his desk.”

There were photos in the book, too. Pictures of Sam when he was just a skinny little kid. There was one of him with Walter’s arms around him, where he had the traces of what looked like a terrible black eye. But both Walt and Sam—Ringo—were laughing, and the boy’s face was completely lit up.

There were photos of Ringo and Noah, and in some of them the expression on Ringo’s face was so totally Sam, Alyssa laughed aloud.

There was a picture of Sam, barely eighteen, holding Noah and Claire’s infant daughter, Dora.

And another picture had Sam in his Navy uniform, standing with his mother and Noah and Claire outside of a church. There was a caption under that one, reading: “Suellen Starrett gets her one-year chip.”

From Alcoholics Anonymous, Alyssa realized. Sam’s mother had finally dumped his father and gotten her life together.

The very last photo in the book was a picture of Sam and Noah, taken when Sam received his SEAL pin.

Wow, he’d been young when he first became a SEAL. Pride radiated from him with an intensity that was so strong it seemed to reach out in time to touch her through that photograph. He looked ready to take on the world, as one of the very best of the best.

SEAL Team Sixteen had lost a lot with Sam’s recent resignation.

But there was no way he could have stayed in, not after everything that had happened.

Still, Alyssa’s mother had been fond of saying,
When someone shuts a door, a window always opens.

Tom Paoletti had called both Sam and Alyssa this morning, asking if they were interested in meeting with him to discuss potential opportunities working in the public sector.

Paoletti was legendary, and Alyssa suspected that even though Sam was no longer a Navy SEAL, his days of being the best of the best had not yet come to an end.

Beneath that final photo, in Walt’s own hand, was a message to Sam. “My two boys,” he’d written. “May they find the same joy and happiness in their lives that I found in mine, dear Lord. Guide them and let them be blessed with a life filled with love and adventure.”

“I wish you could have known him,” Sam had said to her about Walter Gaines.

Alyssa had the feeling that she did—just by knowing Sam.

As she put down the book, she realized that the house was extremely still. Claire was working up in her office, and Noah had taken Devin and Dora to the movies. The idea was to give Sam a little one-on-one time with Haley, who was spending her days with Noah and Claire until all of the endless questioning and interviews and debriefings ended.

It looked as if charges would not be filed against Mary Lou, which was a very good thing, for all their sakes.

Alyssa stood up and stretched. When she first came into this den, over two hours ago, Haley had Sam down on the living room floor, playing with a set of plastic dolls.

She went down the hall to the living room now, wondering if they’d gone outside. It was so quiet.

And then she saw why.

Sam was lying on his back on the floor. Haley was on his chest, and they were both fast asleep. He looked so at peace, so content. And Alyssa knew Roger/Ringo/Sam had finally found a name that was going to stick.
Daddy.

She stood there, watching them, with so much love in her heart it nearly took her breath away.

Let them be blessed with a life filled with love—and adventure.

Between Alyssa and Haley, the love part was handled.

As for the adventure—well, the biggest adventure of all was only just beginning.